Professor Jeffrey Gralnick, of the University of Minnesota's BioTechnology Institute and department of microbiology, helped to lead the effort that discovered Vitamin B-2's role in upping Shewanella's eletrical output. (Source: University of Minnesota)

Shewanella, shown here in blue, was also found by separate researchers to be capable of producing carbon nanotubes, shown in yellow. (Source: University of California Riverside)

Now researchers have made an exciting new
microbiological breakthrough involving a very special type of
bacteria. It has been known for some time that the bacteria,
Shewanella, found commonly in water and soil, produces electricity
when it digests organic matter. This led to researchers taking
special interest in its potential as a natural generator.
However, a major roadblock to such alternative energy plans was the
fact that it was unknown until now is exactly how the bacteria
accomplished its electrical generation, or whether the process could
be governed.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have
now
discovered that the vitamin riboflavin (known commonly as vitamin
B-2), provides the bacteria with much of its generating
capabilities. The research was led by Daniel Bond and Jeffrey
Gralnick, of the University of Minnesota's BioTechnology Institute
and Department of Microbiology.

Professor Bond explained the
importance of their discovery, stating, "This is very exciting
because it solves a fundamental biological puzzle. Scientists
have known for years that Shewanella produce electricity. Now we know
how they do it."

Their research, which will be published
in the March 3 issue of the “Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences” opens the door to an exciting new chapter in alternative
energy. By boosting the Shewanella bacteria's riboflavin intake
with vitamins, the bacteria's electrical output dramatically
increases. These bacteria can transform organic waste
byproducts such as lactic acid into electricity, offering both a
waste disposal and an alternative energy solution.

The
research team discovered riboflavin's effects when bacteria growing
on their electrodes began to increase in electrical output. The
team discovered that the increase was do to the accumulation of
riboflavin on the electrodes, a substance the bacteria naturally
produce. As the riboflavin built up, the bacteria's electrical
output increased to a maximum of 370 percent of the original
levels.

Potential uses include waste water microbial fuel
cells and, according to researchers, a natural fuel source for ocean
floor probes. Professor Bond remarks, "Bacteria could help
pay the bills for a wastewater treatment plant."

The
researchers do warn that in order for the technology to be
cost-effective for home and business use or for transportation,
significant biological and fuel cell design obstacles would have to
be overcome. For now, the technology provides a great deal of
niche potential for the waste water industry, they say.

For
those curious of why Shewanella outputs electrical current, here's
why. The bacteria needs to digest certain soil metals such as
iron to survive and thrive. In order to properly absorb them it
directs electrons into the metals to change their properties, making
them more digestible. Says Profesor Gralnick, "Bacteria
have been changing the chemistry of the environment for billions of
years. Their ability to make iron soluble is key to metal
cycling in the environment and essential to most life on
earth."

Such bacteria could also be applied to ship
surfaces and used in a reverse process to prevent corrosion by
outputting iron. The U.S. Navy is interested enough in this
application to provide the team with a grant to explore the
technology further.

The research was primarily funded
by the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment, the
National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and
Cargill. The University of Minnesota's College of Biological
Sciences and the Institute of Technology were also involved with the
project.

I'm not prepared to make any decisions on how this could be used until they actually give us some facts. Here are some facts I could use.#1: HOW MUCH ELECTRICITY DO THESE PRODUCE? They say these can be used as alternative energy, how is that possible unless they produce enough electricity from our garbage to power the proportional amount of homes? I doubt that they could really produce that much electricity even considering the amount of garbage the average household throws out. It's kind of fishy how they don't tell us anything, and that kind of attitude makes me think: optimism without reality.#2: how much waste do these things get rid of? or is it kind of a joke talking about how they can get rid of trash? even if they can't produce much energy, I'm fine with using these if they just speed up the decomposition process.#3: do these bacteria need certain kinds of trash? They're talking about how these things need vitamin b2 (riboflavin). Can we really just throw our garbage in a pit and expect it to make power? Or would we have to process all our trash and spray it with chemicals before we chuck it in a landfill?#4: would we need special facilities or devices to extract the electricity from the bacteria? That would be a huge problem with large landfills, and inconvenient next to the current method of simply gathering the natural gasses made from decomposition. (mostly methane)#5: what is the cost of this compared to other alternative energy options? i don't think this needs explaining.

even if they don't use this with garbage as they are suggesting, then they need to look at the amount of electricity they produce. I'm extremely skeptical of bio-electricity, and not giving me any facts makes me even more skeptical.

I doubt they produce very much energy at all, and they probably need vast amounts of organic material. Fortunately, electricity would just be the byproduct of their main function in a waste water treatment plant. Which is mainly what this article was highlighting.

There are competing energy technologies however who's main target is waste water. So it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Maybe they just have a giant tub of trash with suckers in it, till it produces a certain amount of eletric potential and have it charging our typical chemical batteries and that will then power the rest of the system?

I'm not so sure the point is whether or not it's enough, but rather that they do those things at all. Any additional energy from what could be considered almost nothing is better than none at all. Even if all the bacteria that you can harvest in a single spot could only charge ur ipod, it's still a benefit. Energy from waste could not be a better way to recycle garbage and get energy.

Given the author's other post today that implys that nuclear is "not a viable alternative energy solution" (despite hundreds of active reactors that might indicate otherwise) these questions about the author's lack of details is appropriate.

not so inighthawki. As I stated earlier, (although possibly with not enough emphasis.) The current method of deriving energy from trash is by collecting methane from decomposition. If these make electricity, it's possible that they will kill the other bacteria that create methane, or that they will simply decompose more of the material than the methane producing bacteria. If they are more inefficient, we recieve less energy, and thus lies the problem.

quote: ...expressed per unit electrode surface area, rates obtained with Shewanella (0.15 A/m2) remain many orders of magnitude lower than what is obtained in chemical fuel cells (1,000 A/m2), similar to what has been observed for other microbial catalysts (13, 33).

I think you folks who are worried about bacteria mutating and killing people need to stop spewing ignorance and enroll in your local community college's microbiology course. You might learn something! With that said, this organism is an opportunistic pathogen and by my meager research has 2 documented cases of infection. I really doubt there is anything to fear from this organism.

For example: decomposition of all kinds is mediated by bacteria and this happens and has happened for millions of years without any human input. I don't think the primary industrial usage of this bacteria would be in decomposing solid garbage. Maybe in treating waste water. But also consider that these bacteria are versatile (facultative anaerobes) and microbiologists can actually culture them. For example: The bacteria causing leprosy (M. leprae) has never been cultured on laboratory media (in vitro) The fact that a bacteria using an exotic type of metabolism can be grown in a lab is a big plus.

Another reason scientists are interested in these bacteria is because they can use uranium as their terminal electron receptor and reduce it to a form that is insoluble. This represents a form of bioremediation which could be used to protect or clean aquifers from radio-contaminants. This research is also important because it shows that something as simple as adding an electron acceptor for this bacteria can increase output by 370%.

I will attempt to clarify/correct the articles description of what the bacteria is doing to generate electricity.

quote: The bacteria needs to digest certain soil metals such as iron to survive and thrive.

Iron is used by this bacteria as the terminal electron acceptor in their electron transport chain. Basically in respiration you need to get ATP, and you have (simplified model here) glycolysis-->krebs(TCA)-->electron transport chain. The first two don't produce much ATP but they reduce electron acceptors (reduce means taking electrons--counterintuitive yes) such as NAD and FAD which become NADH and FADH2. These middle men electron acceptors pass electrons down the chain to the terminal acceptor. Note: terminal electron receptor is a consumable. For most eukaryotes this acceptor is oxygen. We wouldn't say we are digesting oxygen would we? What the bacteria is "digesting" is the carbon source which supplies the electrons or H+. I felt the description was a bit lacking and needed clarification.

quote: In order to properly absorb them it directs electrons into the metals to change their properties, making them more digestible.

The utility of riboflavin here is two fold. First, riboflavin is directly shuttling electrons in their transport chain. Second, Riboflavin can chelate certain metal ions. Chelating refers to the ability of an organic compound to bind metals ion which become less reactive. This packages the iron in a form that the cell can use. So by adding a needed intermediate in their respiration process that also helps procure more terminal electron acceptor, the electrical output (which is an objective measure of their rate of metabolism) is optimized.

I've studied microbiology and how microorganisms function, but this when right over my head. I understood some stuff, but when it went beyond talking about how you react atp with other things, my eyes glazed over.